Viv McKenzie has a plan for everything, including Christmas.
A color-coded itinerary. A bullet-journaled bucket list. A printed boarding pass in a file folder. What she doesn’t have a plan for is a canceled flight, a blizzard, and an emergency crash landing in the middle of the South Dakota Badlands on Christmas Eve.
Austin Taylor has a plan, too. Fly in, survive the pot roast, fly out. He’s had good reasons for hating the holiday since he was nineteen years old, and one stranded flight isn’t going to change that.
Except that the woman sitting next to him, the one with the bucket list and the romance novel and the unshakeable conviction in the magic of Christmas, is making that very difficult.
Trapped overnight with a hundred strangers, a zip-tied drunk, a cat named Tinkerbell, and a doctor with an improbable amount of peppermint bark, Viv and Austin discover that the best Christmas stories aren’t the ones you plan.
They’re the ones that crash-land on you.
Purchase Information
Crashing All the Way is in progress. Check back for release dates.
Book Clubs
Mrs. McKenzie’s Peppermint Sipping Chocolate
Rich, creamy slow cooker sipping chocolate with a hint of peppermint.
8 servings
Ingredients
4 cups heavy cream
1/3 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups whole milk
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
12 ounces semi-sweet baking chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 cups toppings of your choice (marshmallows, whipped cream, crushed candy canes)
Instructions
Whisk cocoa into cream: Add half of the heavy cream to your slow cooker. Whisk in the cocoa powder until fully combined — this may take a few minutes. Don't skip this step, it prevents clumping.
Add remaining ingredients: Add the remaining heavy cream, whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, chopped chocolate, vanilla extract, and peppermint extract. Stir to combine.
Cook on low: Set your slow cooker to LOW and cook for 3 hours, stirring every 20 minutes, until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth and combined.
Keep warm and serve: Switch to the WARM setting for serving. Ladle into mugs and top with your favorites (marshmallows, whipped cream, crushed candy canes) If the sipping chocolate thickens while sitting, stir in a splash of milk to reach your desired consistency.
Nebraska classic: savory ground beef, cabbage, and onion tucked inside soft homemade dough.
8 servings
Ingredients
1 teaspoons active dry or instant yeast
1.5 cups warm water
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons kosher salt
0.3 cups extra virgin olive oil
2 pounds ground beef
1 small onion, diced
4 cups cabbage, chopped
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
1 teaspoons black pepper
1 cups shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
Instructions
Make the dough: Sprinkle yeast over warm water. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, combine flour and salt. With the mixer on low, drizzle in olive oil until combined. Pour in the yeast and water mixture and mix until just combined.
Rest the dough: Coat a separate bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil. Form the dough into a ball, toss to coat, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate and let rise for 90 minutes.
Make the filling: While the dough rises, cook ground beef and onion in a skillet over medium-high heat until the meat is no longer pink. Drain well.
Add cabbage: Stir in cabbage, seasoned salt, and pepper. Cook until cabbage is tender and filling is well combined. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Preheat and prep: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a large baking sheet and set aside.
Assemble the runzas: Punch the dough down and divide into 8 equal portions. Working one at a time, roll each piece into a rectangle approximately 6 x 8 inches. Place a generous three-quarter cup of filling in the center. If using cheddar, add a small handful on top of the filling. Fold the dough over the filling, seal and tuck the edges tightly.
Bake: Place runzas seam-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 22 minutes or until golden brown.
*These can be frozen or shared with Cliff, your next-door neighbor.
Book Clubs
Reading Crashing All the Way with your book club? We put together a discussion guide to help you dive deeper into Viv and Austin’s story, the big themes, and all the unforgettable moments from that very long Christmas Eve.
You'll find questions about everything from crash landings and Christmas bucket lists to what it really means to find joy in the mess. Plus a few questions that might just get your group swapping their own stories about the Christmases that didn't go according to plan.
Grab your guide here and let the conversation crash land.
*CONTAINS SPOILERS!